New Delhi: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has floated a four-year tender for media rights to international cricket matches in India. The tender includes bids for private FM radio, even as news and current affairs is not allowed in this segment.
A senior official in the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry told DNA: Cricket coverage certainly comes under news and current affairs. And private FM radio stations are not permitted to broadcast news and current affairs programmes, he added, reiterating the government norms for radio. BCCI vice-chairman Lalit Modi had earlier argued that cricket is entertainment and not news. Radio is part of the tender for global media rights to cricket matches between April 2006 and March 2010. Cable TV, direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting, broadband, radio and mobile are among the various segments under the tender. The four-year tender is for 162 days of live cricket, it is learnt. While TV and DTH players are gearing up to bid for the cricket rights, FM radio companies are in a wait and watch mode. CEO of Music Broadcast Private Ltd (MBPL) Apurva Purohit said: We will have to look at the conditions of the tender first. MBPL holds 18 FM radio stations across the country. Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group is also learnt to be looking for some clarity on whether FM players can bid for cricket rights or not. Anil Ambani group-backed Adlabs has won 49 FM stations already. Another FM player, Bennett Coleman group which runs Radio Mirchi, however, may not be too gung-ho about cricket radio rights. At a recent press conference, Bennett Coleman managing director Vineet Jain said, Cricket coverage will be treated as news and thats not allowed in private FM. While Modi maintained that cricket is entertainment and therefore it can be aired on FM radio, Prasar Bharati CEO KS Sarma had written a letter to Board president Sharad Pawar that current government norms dont permit private FM radio channels to broadcast news and current affairs. http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1010393&CatID=6 +++++++++++++++ Jaisakthivel, www.dxersguide.blogspot.com __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Matrimony: Find your partner now. Go to http://yahoo.shaadi.com ---[Start Commercial]--------------------- World Radio TV Handbook 2006 is out. Order yours from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823059367/hardcoredxcom/ ---[End Commercial]----------------------- ________________________________________ Hard-Core-DX mailing list [email protected] http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/hard-core-dx http://www.hard-core-dx.com/ _______________________________________________ THE INFORMATION IN THIS ARTICLE IS FREE. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified under the conditions set down in the Design Science License published by Michael Stutz at http://dsl.org/copyleft/dsl.txt
